For Immediate Release – October 7, 2021
Press Release Contact: Anne M Krieg, AICP – Planning Officer, City of Bangor Planning Division
(207) 992-4280
planning@bangormaine.gov
City of Bangor to host “Walking Audit” of city streets and sidewalks
Bangor, Maine – For the month of October, the City of Bangor, with support from the Bangor Livable Communities Committee, will be hosting a city-wide mobility audit as a way to get people who work and live in the city out and about to evaluate the safety and accessibility of their neighborhood streets. The data that results from the audit will be used in the city’s Comprehensive Plan to generate recommendations for making the city’s streets and sidewalks safer for pedestrians and other users, including those using assistive devices. The City is performing this mobility audit under the framework set out by AARP in their Walk Audit toolkit, but are actively soliciting feedback from all members of the public about mobility, particularly the disability community.
The City will be distributing paper forms from the AARP Walk Audit program and has also developed an online form with the same questions. This program will run for the month of October; people can do their audits whenever and wherever they normally walk. The “audit” is the observation from their walk on the experience, traffic, crosswalks, street trees and the like. Audit forms (whether online or paper) are requested to be submitted by October 31st.
In evaluating COVID-safe ways to engage the public at large with the comprehensive planning process, the City decided to use the AARP Walk Audit as one method. The Walk Audit is a program from AARP that engages people of all ages to experience their own neighborhoods and/or where they like to walk. The Bangor Livable Communities Committee (BLCC) is part of AARP, so they are one of the partners in this effort. This program allows the City to obtain feedback from the public in a unique way that gets people out into the city.
The online audit form can be accessed on the City’s website, https://www.bangormaine.gov/walkingaudit, or you may contact the Planning Office at 207-992-4280 for paper forms or further information.
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The City of Bangor, Maine is a service center community of 33,039 residents and is the county seat of Penobscot County. Bangor is the major commercial and cultural center for much of northern and eastern Maine. The City is an equal opportunity employer and service provider. For information on City projects and news, see www.bangormaine.gov.